The introductory part of our work reflects the situation that confronted Slovak writers during the Second World War with the ideological expectations of the regime of the Slovak Republic. We point to the fate of Milo Urban, who developed his career under pressure from the wish to stand out. On the way to fulfilling his wishes he succumbed to the Ľudák ideology. He actively participated in the shaping of Slovak culture in the period 1939 – 1945, and attempted to level down his work with his post-war “memories”. The main part of the paper considers the expressions of Ľudák ideology in the magazine Slovenské pohľady in the period 1939 – 1945. We perceive the term Ľudák ideology as a designation for every tendency of adherents of Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party to blacken or persecute their opponents and support processes leading to stabilization of the ruling regime. We show that the Ľudák ideology was expressed in the literature and public writing of the time in the form of value compromising by individual authors, who succumbed to the ideological demands of the time. The extracts from individual texts published in the monthly Slovenské pohľady are evidence of the activities of the chief editor Stanislav Mečiar, contributors to the magazine, and members of the public, who read these texts.
The paper focuses on the reconstruction of the circumstances and influences that led to the publication of Slovak translations of Nazi poetry in the literary magazine Slovenské pohľady during the period of the Slovak state (1939 – 1945). Firstly, it analyses the controversial work of Stanislav Mečiar (1910 – 1971), editor of this traditional periodical, and re-evaluates previous research that either negatively generalized ideological influences on his activities by accusing him of collaboration, or, conversely, defended his actions as being in the national interest. To overcome this polarisation, the article clarifies the work of S. Mečiar as a radical ideologue of “Slovak National Socialism”, who, in addition to his activities in the structures of the national cultural institution Slovak Matica, was also active in the paramilitary organisation Hlinka Guard. Although S. Mečiar did not entirely close the magazine off to diverse perspectives, his personal ideological orientation had a significant influence on its direction. This was reflected in the substantial space the editor allocated to overtly ideological texts and in his collaboration with the group of poets known as Catholic modernists. The attempts to politicise literature and religion, and their limits, can be reconstructed through the example of translations of German poetry.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.